1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to swing-training devices for baseball and softball and, more particularly, to a fully-articulating batting tee that allows the user to position the baseball within a range around home plate.
2. Description of the Background
Hitting a baseball is one of the most difficult athletic feats in sport. Done successfully, the bat will impart a force as high as 8,000 pounds to a ball in a half-millisecond of impact so the ball has sufficient momentum to carry it into the bleachers before gravity pulls it down into the outfielder's glove.
However, a batter facing a 90 mph fastball has less than ¼ of a second to see the pitch, evaluate its speed and location, decide whether or not to swing, and then to execute the swing. To make contact, the bat must meet the ball within an eighth of an inch of dead center and at precisely the right millisecond as the pitch flies by.
There are a variety of existing swing-training devices. One in particular, the batting tee, has found its prominence in the world baseball and softball. Batting tees are commonly used everywhere from the fields of little league baseball to the plush diamonds of major league baseball. Why is the batting tee so commonly used? There are many good treatises on hitting, including The Science of Hitting by the Splendid Splinter (Boston Red Sox Hall-of-Famer Ted Williams). Others include Charlie Lau's book The Art of Hitting, and Dusty Baker's book You Can Teach Hitting. All of these authorities have one thing in common: they advocate the use of a stationary batting tee to familiarize batters with the strike zone and their own swing mechanics, thereby making the correct foregoing decision. Even with all of the technology currently available, the simple batting tee will never be antiquated.
Players most frequently turn to the batting tee for rehabilitation after injury and for review of swing mechanics during prolonged hitting slumps. Prior art batting tees generally include simple base and tube assemblies, with the tube extending vertically from the base. The tube supports a ball in the approximate area of the player's strike zone.
Unfortunately, stationary tees hold the ball in one or a few locations over the center of home plate. This forces the batter to improperly position his or her feet in relation to home plate and to reposition himself or herself every time he wants to adjust to different pitch locations. This action does not lend itself to follow form with the baseball adage, “hit the ball where it is pitched.”
Let's consider the swing dynamic. The batter cocks his wrist, rotates his hips, and extends his arms, creating a swing arc. Hitting the ball on the “fat” of the bat along the swing arc requires a swing pattern adjustment. The inside pitch is on the arc in front of home plate and the outside pitch is on the arc at the plate. The arc, in fact, does not originate from home plate, but from the batter's feet. This requires the hitter to consider two factors before executing a proper swing: ball position and feet position in the batters box. The problem with current tee construction is simply that they cannot recreate ball positions along the arc from where the feet are in the batter's box (see FIG. 3).
Thus, it would be greatly advantageous to address this disadvantage with a fully articulating batting tee that can position the ball anywhere over or around home plate.